When should you get your daughter’s ears pierced?

My little girls have wanted to get their ears pierced since they were about 5 years old. I think it’s common for girls to want to pierce their ears. Most females have their ears pierced, so it’s something my kids have seen and like.

Randi after getting
her ears pierced

Some parents get their kids ears pierced when they are babies. I’ve heard some moms say they do it because they don’t want people thinking their little girls are boys. I didn’t have my girls ears pierced because I wanted to let them make the decision for themselves.

When our girls started asking to have their ears pierced, I didn’t have too much of an issue allowing them to do it, but my husband wanted them to wait until they were older. I think I was seven or eight when I got pierced ears. I know it was a big deal to me when I was allowed to do it. I felt so grown up.

I think that’s why my husband actually had an issue with letting them get their ears pierced because he doesn’t want them to grow up. It’s hard on daddies to see their babies growing up. It’s hard on mommies too.

In the end, my husband and I came to a compromise with the girls. We decided when they were seven and a half they could get their ears pierced.

My oldest daughter, who is 16 months older than her sister, was excited because she would be the first to start wearing earrings. When Randi Kay turned seven and a half, she said she wanted to get her ears pierced. So we went to the mall and had them pierced.

We found out then that you can ask to have both ears pierced at the same time. It is so much faster and it’s over before your child can get scared to have the second ear pierced because it is already done.

Randi Kay didn’t even flinch. She was so proud of her new earrings and was old enough to be able to take care of them. If you haven’t had earrings or maybe don’t remember when you first got them, you have to clean them every night, rotating the stem and backings of the earrings. You have to keep the ear clean so you don’t get an infection. Randi Kay did great and hasn’t had any problems.

My youngest daughter, Graci, was counting down the months and days until she was seven and a half. She wanted earrings so bad. Finally a week before she was seven and half, she reminded my husband and me about going to get her ears pierced.

The day came, and we said, “Ok let’s go get your ears pierced.” On the car ride over she started re-thinking the idea of getting her ears pierced.

By the time we got to the mall and the place to get her ears pierced, she didn’t want to do it anymore. At this point, we were trying to convince her to do it. Even my husband, who didn’t really want her to get it done, was trying to talk her into it. She finally decided she would. We picked out the earrings and did the paperwork.

And then, Graci decided she just couldn’t do it.

It was a little disappointing, but I realized if she didn’t want to do it, I wasn’t going to make her.

I realized sometimes we can let one child do something at a certain age and the other may not be ready to do it at that age and have to wait.

On the other hand that child may do something at a younger age that their sibling did when they were older.  This experience made me realize once again all kids are different, even my own two. For now, Graci doesn’t have her ears pierced. I don’t think it will last too long before we are back at the store.